Terminal crimping machine



Oct. 3, 1961 5, KROL HAL 3,002,669

TERMINAL CRIMPING MACHINE Filed Se t. 12, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVE R55/00/67 I r BY Jo/m B. 50/0 Oct. s, 1961 s. J. KROL Em. V 3,002,669

TERMINAL CRIMPING MACHINE Filed Sept. 12, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 q)INVENTORS m '8 6700/67 2' /(/0/ BY John 3 Sale 3,002,669 TERMINAL i iMACHINE Stanley J. Krol, Bensenville, and John B. Sola, Chicago, Ill.,assignors to Malco Manufacturing Company, Chicago, 111., a partnershipFiled Sept. 12, 1958, Ser. No. 760,644 4- Claims. (Cl. 226-71) Thisinvention pertains to an automatic machine for crimping terminalconnectors on wire conductors and in particular to such a machine thatwill permit changing between terminals of diiferent types and sizes andwires of different sizes with a minimum of or no adjustment.

The rapid advance in the development of the electronics industry hasnecessitated the design and construction of numerous types of machinesfor manufacturing the various components used in the assembly of theelectronic circuits. One component common to most circuits is theterminal connectors which are generally crimped to a wire lead. Numerousmachines have been developed for crimping such terminal connectors tothe wire leads such as that shown in our co-pending application Serial733,712, filed May 7, 1958, and assigned to the same assignee.

One of the major problems encountered in crimping operations is thatmany times it is necessary to crimp various types and sizes of terminalconnectors as well as different sizes of wires with and withoutinsulation. While the heretofore known machines of this type have beenhighly successful, they do necessitate a rather complex adjustment ofthe machine each time a difierent size and/or type terminal or wire isto be processed by the machine. These adjustments require skill on thepart of the operator and at the same time result in down time for themachine and consequently cause a considerable lowering of productionoutput. For these reasons it is a foremost feature and object of theinvention to provide a machine for crimping terminal connectors on Wireleads that will permit change of one type or size of terminal connectoror wire conductor to another type and size with little or no adjustment.

Another feature and object of the invention resides in the provision ofa feeding mechanism that will permit alterations in the crimp height andthe change between the various types and sizes of terminal connectorsand wire conductors with substantially little or no adjustment of thecrimping machine and the feeding mechanism in particular.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a feedingmechanism especially suited for feeding a chain of terminal connectorsinto a machine for crimping the connectors onto wire conductors.

Another object of the invention resides in the provision of a feedingmechanism which may be adjusted when necessary with a minimum of skilland effort.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent upon readingof the specification with reference to the following drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective View of the crimping machine embodying theinvention.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view of the crimping machine shown in FIGURE 1and particularly illustrating the feeding mechanism used in theconstruction of the machine.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 in FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 illustrates a chain of one type of terminal that may be crimpedin the machine shown in FIGURE 1.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, there is shown a crimping machine embodyingthe invention generally denoted by the numeral 10. This crimping machineis adapted to receive a chain of terminal connectors, such as that shownin FIGURE 4 from a suitable source such as reel or storage drumpositioned at some remote location, and crimp the terminal connectorsonto wire leads fed into the machine. The terminal connectors may be anyone of numerous types that are used in electrical circuits. While thespecification and the drawings are in terms of a crimping machine inwhich the chain of terminal connectors is fed to the rear of the ram, itwill be apparent upon development of the specification that the subjectinvention is applicable to those machines in which the chain is fed tothe side of the ram, as shown in the aforementioned co-pendingapplication.

The crimping machine It? is adapted to be mounted in a punch press (notshown) so that the head 12 is secured to the ram of the press by somesuitable means. It should be kept in mind that the stroke of the pressis generally a fixed amount, for example, 1%. inches. While the strokeis fixed as to length, it may be displaced. The displacement of thestroke permits the crimp height of the crimping machine 10' to be variedas will be explained later in greater detail. This displacement isnormally facilitated by adjustment of the press ram which in turn causesa corresponding adjustment in the crimping machine.

The crimping machine 10 includes a base 14 which is adapted to besecured to the anvil of the press in which the machine is mounted. Aswas mentioned previously, the head 12 of the crimping machine It) isadapted to be received in the ram of the press and secured by means of aset screw tightened against the land 16.

The head 12 is secured to the ram of the crimping machine 10 which isgenerally denoted by the numeral 18. The ram 18 is received within theU-shaped column 20 of the base 14, as shown in FIGURE 1.

As best shown in FIGURE 2, the ram 18 includes the ram body 22, to whichis secured the crimping die 24 by means of the bolt or stud 26. A spacerblock 28 is disposed intermediate the crimping die 24 and the ram body22 so as to maintain the two in spaced relationship. The crimping faceof the crimping die 24 is of any suitable shape which will crimp theprongs of the terminal connectors 36 on the lead wires 37. The crimpingdie 24 is adapted to co-operate with the anvil 30 which is mounted onthe base 14 as shown in FIGURE 2 along with the shear anvil assemblygenerally denoted by the numeral 32. The shear anvil assembly 32cooperates with the cutter blade 34 which is mounted intermediate thespacer member 28 and the ram body 22. The cut ter blade 34 cuts orseparates the terminal connectors 36 from the chain as they are fed intothe machine.

Intermediate the crimping die 24- and the cutter blade 34 is astationary stripping blade 35 which is mounted between the side Walls ofthe U-shaped column. 20. The stripping blade 35 removes any crimpedterminals which tend to lodge in the crimping face of the die 24.

As was mentioned previously, the terminal connectors are fed to themachine 10 in the form of a long chain from a reel or some suitablestorage means. The chain is received on the feed arm 38 which extendsrearwardly from the anvils 30 and 32. The feed arm 38 consists primarilyof a strip of metal of suflicient length and width to guide the chain ofterminal connectors into position for the crimping operation.

A braking device generally denoted by the numeral 4-0 is mounted abovethe feed arm 38 in order to prevent undesirable forward or rearwardmovement of the chain during the crimping operation. The braking device40 consists of a compression pad holder 42 which is mounted on the pivotpin 44 secured to the base 14. A compression pad 46 is secured to thelower surface of the pad holder 42 and is adapted to contact the chainof terminal connectors as they move along the feed arm 38. The holder 42is secured to an eccentric member 48 which permits it to be moved fromengaging position as shown in FIGURE 2 to a nonengaging position. Theholder 42 may bebiased toward engaging position by some suitable meanssuch as a coil spring (not shown). The coil spring is preferably suchthat it permits the chain to be moved forwardly so as to feed theterminals onto the anvils 3i and 252 by the positive force of a feedingmechanism as will be described hereinafter, but at the same timeeliminates any tendency for the chain to move due to inertia. Thisarrangement also prevents any rearward movement of the chain during therepositioning of the feeding mechanism as will be seen later on.

The feeding mechanism, generally denoted by the numeral is mounted onthe wall 51 of the base 14 by the pivot pin 52. and spring washer 54.The feed mechanism Sil includes the cam arm 56 which is pivotallymounted at one end by the pivot pin 52 on the wall 51. At the other endof the cam arm 56 is a pin 58 which is adapted to co-operate with thefeed bracket or cam 66 for oscillating-the cam arm 56.

The cam 66 is secured to the ram body 22 by means of the stud or boltb2. The cam 60 includes the vertically spaced lugs es and 66 whichcontact the pin 58 during the movement of the ram body away from andtoward, respectively, the anvils 3i? and 32. It will be noticed thatthere is a considerable amount of dwell between the lugs 64 and 66. Thisdwell, when the ram body moves from the crimping position to theretracted position, permits the crimped terminal to be stripped from thedie 24 before the next terminal is fed into crimping position, as willbe seen later on. The amount of dwell may be varied in order to suit theparticular application.

The feed mechanism 59 further includes a feed arm 68 which is pivotallymounted on the pin 52. The feed arm 68 includes a laterally extendinglug Til, as best shown in FEGURE l, which by means of a stop memberlimits the amount of rotation of the arm 63, as will be explained lateron. Pivotally secured to the lower end of the feed arm as is a feedfinger 74 which is retained on the pin 76 by means of the spring washer78. The feed finger 74 is biased in a counterclockwise direction bymeans of the spiral spring 80 so as to engage the terminal chaindisposed on the feed arm 38 as is fully explained in the aforementionedapplication.

The cam arm 56 and the feed arm 68 are secured together by means of thespring coupling or clutch generally denoted by the numeral 82. Thespring clutch 82 includes the coil spring 84 which is received in thecompartment 86 formed by the cavity 88 in the arm 56 in co-operationwith the cavity 9% in the arm 68. As shown in the drawing, the coilspring 84- is positioned so that its longitudinal axis lies along theparting line between the arms 56 and 68. In order to facilitate equalengagement of the arms 56 and 68 by the coil spring 84 when they are intheir normal positions, the spring clutch 82 includes the cap members 92which are re ceived in the ends of the spring. It can now be seen thatwhen there is movement of one arm with respect tothe other, the spring84- will be compressed so that the arms are biased toward their normalpositions and to resiliently resist such rotation. As a result, the twoarms 56 and 68 are resiliently joined by 'the spring clutch 82 whichpermitsrotation of the arm 56 while the arm 6% is maintained in astationary position.

An adjustable stop member 94 is threadably secured to the lug 743 bymeans of the nut 96 and is adapted to abut the surface 72 when the arm68 is rotated in a clock wise manner. This arrangement permits the feedstroke to be varied in order to suit terminals of various lengths, aswill be described later on.

Now that the various elements included in the con-' struction of thecrimping machine have been disclosed, itsoperation will be described.When the ram 18 moves from its retracted position toward thecrimping-position,

as shown in FIGURE 2, the crimping die 24 crimps the terminal 36 ontothe lead wire 37. As the ram 18 moves further downward, the cutter blade34 shears the crimped terminal from the chain. When the crimping die 24has reached its lowermost position or crimp height, the terminal 36should be fully crimped to the lead wire'37. At this point the ram 18then begins to move upwardly to the retracted position. If the terminal36 should be lodged in the die 24, it will be disengaged by the stripperblade 35. As the ram 18 moves further upward, the lug 64 of the feed cam61) is brought into engagement with the pin 58 on the cam arm 56. Theupward movement of the ram 18 will cause the arm 56 to be rotated in aclockwise direction. The arm 56 will in turn rotate the feed arm 68 bymeans of the spring clutch 82. When the arm 68 is rotated in a clockwisedirection, the feed finger 74 is moved forwardly so as to move the nextterminal connector onto the anvil 3d. The forward movement of the chainwill place an uncrimped terminal on the anvilv For obvious reasons it isnecessary that the forward movement of the chain for each upward strokeof the ram 18 be limited to a distance substantially equal to the lengthof one terminal. This movement is controlled by the adjustable stop aswhich abuts the surface 72. If the terminals are relatively long, thenthe stop 94 projects only a relatively short distance below the lug 70.On the other hand, if the terminals are relatively short, then the stop94 projects a relatively long distance below the lug 70. As a result ofthis arrangement, when the feed finger 74 has pushed the chain forwardthe length of a single terminal, the feed arm 68 is restrained fromfurther rotary movement by the abutment of the stop member 94 on thesurface 72. The cam arm 56, however, nla be further rotated by theupward movement of the dambll even though the arm 68 is restrained inthe manner previously described by reason of the spring coupling 82.Thus, if it should be desired to crimp a terminal of a longer or shorterlength, it would be necessary to adjust the bolt 94 a correspondingamount. However, it would not be necessary to change the cam 60 sincerelative movement between the arms 56 and 68 is permitted by the springclutch 82 as previously described. As a result of this arrangement, itis possible to make a simple adjustment of the stop 94 in order toaccommodate terminal connectors of various lengths by simply turning thestop member a4 until it projects the desired amount below the'lug 70-.

As was mentioned previously, the stroke of the ram 18 is maintained at aconstant, even though the stroke may be displaced. For example, if itshould be desired to' raise the crimp height of the machine in order toaccommodate a larger or different type of wire or a different typeterminal, the entire stroke will be displaced the same amount so thatthe stroke length is maintained at a constant. This means that if thecrimp height is raised, the cam 60 and the lug 64 will be raised acorresponding amount in the uppermost position. As a result ofincreasing the crimp height, the cam arm 56 will be rotated even furtheras a result of the higher upward position of the lug 64. Generally theadditional rotation'of the arm 56 will be relative to the arm 68 due tothe abutment of the stop memberM. This relative movement, of course, ispermitted by the spring clutch 82 in the manner'previously described. Asthe result of this arrangement, the subject feeding mechanism 5% permitsthe adjustment of the crimp height without changing the cam 60. e

As can now be seen, the crimping machine as described herein isespecially suited to accommodate wires and terminal connectors ofvarious types and sizes. a preferred embodiment of the invention hasbeen'described, it is to be understood that this is merely by way ofexample andis in no manner to be construed as a Although limitation. Itis contemplated that certain modifications may be made within the scopeof the claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

l. A device adapted to be used for feeding a chain of terminalconnectors into a ram type machine for crimping the connectors to wireleads comprising a first arm pivotally mounted and connected to the ramfor scillatory movement thereby, and a second arm pivotally mounted atone end concentric with said first arm and connected by resilient meansto said first arm for oscillatory movement therewith, and said resilientmeans comprised of said first arm having a first cavity, said second armhaving a second cavity, normally at least partially open to said firstcavity and a coil spring confined in an axial direction by thecooperation of said first and second cavities so that movement of saidfirst arm with respect to said second arm further confines said coilspring so as to resist relative movement between said first and secondarms.

2. A device adapted to be used for feeding a chain of terminalconnectors into a ram type machine for crimping the connectors to wireleads comprising a first arm pivotally mounted and connected to the ramfor oscillatory movement thereby, a second arm pivotally mounted at oneend concentric with said first arm and connected by resilient means tosaid first arm for oscillatory movement therewith, means for limitingthe movement of said second arm so that the movement of the chain islimited to a distance substantially equal to the length of a singleterminal for each oscillation, said resilient means comprised of saidfirst arm having a first cavity, said second arm having a second cavity,normally at least partially open to said first cavity and a coil springconfined in an axial direction by the co-operation of said first andsecond cavities so that movement of said first arm with respect to saidsecond arm further confines said coil spring so as to resist relativemovement between said first and second arms, and finger means connectedto said second arm and biased toward engagement with the terminal chain,said finger means adapted to feed the terminal chain upon upwardmovement of the ram.

3. In a machine for receiving a chain of terminal connectors and forcrimping the same on wire leads including a base member and ram membermovable toward and away from said base member, the combinationcomprising a first arm pivotally mounted on said base member andconnected to said ram for oscillatory movement thereby, a second armpivotally mounted at one end concentric With said first arm andconnected by resilient means to said first arm for oscillatory movementtherewith, and means for limiting the movement of said second arm sothat the movement of the chain is limited to a distance substantiallyequal to the length of a single terminal for each oscillation, saidresilient means comprised of said first arm having a first cavity, saidsecond arm having a second cavity, normally at: least partially open tosaid first cavity and a coil spring confined in an axial direction bythe co-operation of said first and sec ond cavities so that movement ofsaid first arm with respect to said second arm further confines saidcoil spring. 4. A device adapted to be used for feeding a chain ofterminal connectors into a ram type machine for crimping connectors towire leads comprising: a first arm pivotally mounted and connected tothe ram for oscillatory movement thereby; a second arm pivotally mountedat one end concentric with said first arm and connected by resilientmeans to said first arm for oscillatory movement therewith; means forlimiting the movement of said second arm so that the movement of thechain is limited to a distance substantially equal to the length of asingle terminal for each oscillation, said resilient means comprising aspring member engaging said first and said second arms and normallyholding said arms in a predetermined angular relationship, and fingermeans connected to said second arm and biased toward engagement with theterminal chain, said finger means adapted to feed the terminal chainupon upward movement of the ram.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,194,694 Allen Aug. 15, 1916 1,346,089 Hasselstrom- July 6, 19202,631,213 Martines Mar. 10, 1953 2,705,797 Handel Apr. 12, 1955

